Penrose Impossible Triangle

Make your own Impossible Triangle

Well, we did the impossible - triangle, that is...
Now you can learn how.

This picture has not been edited,
yet it appears to be an impossible triangle!

This photo has not been edited one bit. This is a picture of the penrose impossible triangle that is sitting in front of me on my desk. If I look at it from the right angle, it appears exactly as it does in the picture above. Many people think it can't be done. But it is actually possible! And now, you can build your own "impossible triangle" in less than 5 minutes!

How did I do it? First, I studied the triangle, look at all the angles. Next, I whipped out my trusty scissors and started cutting away. It was a blur of strips of paper flying in the air and hitting the floor. And when I finished with some very pretty snowflakes... I got to work on doing the impossible. The impossible triangle, that is.

Many other sources said it couldn't be built, but I knew I had remembered seeing some pictures of it...

Honestly, after many hours of trial and error, I have come up with what I believe to be the best (and easiest) way to make your own. To make this incredibly easy, just download and print the PDF.

You could even color it in or shade it with pencil if you like. Or you can play around with the dimensions if you would like, but if you just follow the instructions, you'll have a perfect impossible triangle in less than 10 minutes. I urge you to print this out and try it! It's a lot of fun! And ... for now anyway... I'm making this printable penrose triangle PDF available for free.

If you make one, snap a picture of it from the perfect angle, and send it to me. I just may add it to the site!

New Video -

Updated: 4/18/07 Vũ Long sent pictures of his triangle. Fantastic pictures, and a little more interesting than the one above. He says "Thank u for the pdf instruction, here is some photos I`ve taken. It was quite easy to build!". Here are the pictures of the penrose triangle that he sent in:

Thanks to Johannes Wiberg for sending in the next picture. He's showcasing his cool computer and nice glowing keyboard with all the keys blackened out too. This guy just loves to make cool stuff!

Wow! It will look like the diamonds on the top are much darker than the diamonds on the bottom.

Perfect and printable! This is a very strong optical illusion, and is even noticeable in the small image to the left. Doesn't it look like the top row is considerably darker than each successive row?

Moving Red Spiral
Sometimes, while I'm just playing around in Photoshop, something appears, as if by magic. This illusion was one of those that just jumps off the page.

It's a large red spiral on a purple background that appears to jump and move. Works better for some people than others, but if you like the moving illusions, you'll love it! Although this small image might move a bit as you read these words, the larger versions are even better!